Lincolnville news

By Diane O'Brien | Feb 28, 2013

Municipal Meetings

All meetings are at Lincolnville Central School unless otherwise noted.

No meetings are scheduled for next week. The calendar of municipal meetings for each month is posted on the town’s website — town.lincolnville.me.us. Unless a meeting is designated “in executive session” all committee and board meetings are open to the public.

Farmers Market

What a busy place on Saturday mornings! Rose Thomas will be back with breads and eggs, Andy Smith and Caitlin Frame bring dairy products, Richard Lenfest with maple syrup and pies, Gail Berry with crafts, Christine Buckley with frames and jewelry, and the Scarf Yarn project for the schoolhouse library. Stop by any Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon at 6 Heal Road.

Novelist at Lincolnville Community Library

On Wednesday, March 6, at 7 p.m. Lincolnville novelist Richard Grant will speak at the Community Library.

A Virginia native, Grant served as a U.S. Coast Guard officer in the 1970s before settling in Washington, D.C., where he began writing science fiction and fantasy. He published his first novel in 1985. In the autumn of 1988, he moved along with fellow novelist Liz Hand to Midcoast Maine, first to Rockport and then in 1991 to Lincolnville.

"Why bother making up bizarre new worlds," he said. "When you can just drive up to Belfast and take notes?"

During the 1990s he produced a series of novels, beginning with “Tex and Molly in the Afterlife,” bringing a magical-realist twist to contemporary Maine life. He also became a regular contributor to DownEast magazine and, for a time, a reporter and columnist for The Camden Herald. His most recent novel, "Another Green World," a work of historical fiction, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2006.

Many in Lincolnville also know Grant as the popular leader of carol-singing at the annual Christmas bonfire at the beach. Refreshments will be served and there will be plenty of time for discussion. The library is located at the corner of Main Street and Heal Road in Lincolnville Center. For more information, email fireweed@tidewater.net. These monthly library talks are free.

Condolences

After a long illness Ashley Dare-Pendleton, daughter of Adam Dare and Crissi Pendleton, passed away at the age of 20. I didn’t know Ashley, but from reading her obituary she was a remarkably courageous young woman. Heartfelt sympathy to all who loved her in her large, extended family.

This has been a sad few weeks for several other local families, especially sad for the relatively young age of their loved ones: Elwin "Skip" Lord of Belfast and Noelani Crawford of Union, both with Lincolnville connections. The whole community mourns with their families.

And with the families of Bill Chalmers and Priscilla Pattison. Bill was a lifelong resident of Fernalds Neck, and I believe, knew it and Megunticook better than anyone. Priscilla, who died at the age of 94, came to Lincolnville first as a child in the summer and retired here many years ago. The sculpture that stands next to the town office is her work.

March Town Meeting, circa 1932

Come early March every year Peg Miller remembers the town meetings of her childhood. With parents who were interested in town affairs, the second Monday in March was a special day – Lincolnville’s town meeting. Northport claimed the first Monday.

Cora and Grover Drinkwater would pack up the pung, the horse-drawn work wagon on runners, with a big pot of hot beans in a special box, a blanket over it and 8-year-old Peg seated on top. They’d set off from their VanCycle Road farm (most recently Elderflower Farm and before that, Neil Welliver’s) and drive down Drinkwater Hill, though in those days the long road down the hill to the Ducktrap River was located several hundred feet west of its present location.

Town meeting was at Tranquility Grange, the largest space in town. Peg remembers some of the families who always attended: the Eugleys, Deans, Healds, Mortons, Russes, Scrutons. Joe Mullin, a founder of Lincolnville Telephone Company and local poet, was the moderator. The children were packed into the anteroom, just off the entrance hall with instructions to play quietly. If you’ve ever had a flu shot at the grange in recent years, you got it in that anteroom.

Town clerk Horace Miller, was “apt to sit on the bench just inside the door,” Peg remembers, and lean his head against the wall, effectively covering up a peep hole into the anteroom. Apparently, the kids couldn’t see in to the doings in the hall.

Near noon the women would leave the wranglings over town affairs and go downstairs to set out the meal, including Cora’s baked beans kept warm on the grange wood stove, for a big potluck dinner. After dinner any remaining articles on the town warrant would be voted on, and then a tired little girl would ride home with her Mama and Papa on the back of the pung.

Editor's note: Lincolnville town meeting now takes place in June. It is scheduled for June 15 this year.